Thursday, October 31, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well! Today I am sharing a card I made to welcome a new baby! A friend asked me to make a special card for our mutual friend who just gave birth to a baby boy. Knowing Christine, I decided to use the Butterflight stamp by House Mouse for this card. She LOVES butterflies and the way the butterfly is carrying the newborn mouse down from the heavens would be perfect for her.

I used Wink of Stella to put a touch of glitter/shine in the little flowers. What you can't see from the card is the sentiment I used on the inside of the card. I love Cloud9 Designs sentiments. I wanted a religious sentiment for Christine, and one that went with this fun image. The one they have went PERFECTLY with it: "With every little baby's birth God sends His love and joy to earth."

I guess you are wondering what is up with all the "mouse" cards this week, and I can honestly say it just happened that I reached for these cute guys this week. I love them all!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Hi, guys! Today is Wednesday, so that means I am sharing what is on my work desk with you! Thank you to Julia for the desk-hopping fun! Today I have a new gadget on my desk: an envelope punch board. I am looking forward to making some envelopes to match my cards. I understand this tool will make it easy to do. I currently use templates to do it, but don't make them that often. I wanted something faster.

I also have a new set of stamps on the desk by Hero Arts. It is not my usual style, but this brush strokes stamp set looks like a lot of fun to work with.

Looking forward to visiting with you today! If you haven't hopped along, I suggest you give it a try! Lots of fun desks to visit and wonderful people to "meet."

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Hi, guys! Today I am sharing a card I made for my good friend Asia. Asia is one of my Jane Austen group ladies, and is a blessing in my life. Asia and Darek got engaged recently and I thought I would send them a fun card to mark the occasion.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well! I haven't been feeling well these past few days, so I have been quiet on the blog. Today I was able to spend some time in my craft room finally!

I have been so far behind in my card making lately. Today I made a wedding card for a special friend. I have been blessed to have some amazing online friends. I have made many since I started my blog, but before then I met a great group of people who belong to a young widows' group. While social media can have a lot of negative aspects, it can also bring so many people together. It is wonderful to be able to talk and share when you need to with people who have walked in your shoes. My friend Cyndi got married to a wonderful man named Chuck. I decided to make a fun card that is not your typical wedding card, but rather, cute and earth toned.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Hi, guys! I started making more Halloween cards today. I saw this fabulous paper by Webster's Pages and it reminded me of one of my friends. I decided to keep the amazing pumpkins on the papers as the main focal images. I used the Simon Says Stamp banner stencil to frame the sentiment. Hero Arts Orange Soda was sponged through the stencil. I think it is the perfect Halloween orange.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Hi guys! Hope all is well! Today is Wednesday, so I am sharing what is on my work desk with you. Thank you to Julia for all this weekly desk-hopping fun!

The desk isn't filled with projects today. Instead, I just opened a package I received in the mail. I have been really wanting to treat myself to a fountain pen. I have never used one and spent a few weeks looking at them and decided to use a couple of my birthday gift cards to purchase a couple. I didn't want an expensive pen, and after reading about Lamy Safari fountain pens decided to give them a try. These were about $25 apiece.

When I saw these pink and white ones I knew they were for me. Just by seeing my blog you will see that I am a pink kind of gal! After cracking these open, I fell in love with them. Now if only my handwriting will improve!

The other side of my desk has a bunch of Halloween papers on it. I will be cranking out some serious Halloween cards this week. Halloween papers are just so fun with all the wonderful colors and patterns.

Thanks for visiting today! I look forward to popping in and seeing what you are working on! If you haven't joined in the WOYWW fun, I recommend you give it a try. Lots of great people sharing what they love!

Monday, October 21, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well! This weekend was a very busy one for me. We attended a local fair, and a comedy show where my hubby's high school friend, Rob Bartlett, was performing. It was a lot of fun. I also did a lot of cooking which is great because I am hoping it will free me up to spend more time in my craft room!

I thought I would share two of the dishes I made. Since I have a large cookbook collection I just browsed until I settled on these two dishes.

Boy, is this delicious! I love that you can cut squares just like lasagna.

I then took out my David Venable cookbook and made his turkey shepherd's pie.

I love shepherd's pie, but normally I like the beef one, but David's uses turkey which I thought would be a good change.

How about a card? I am sharing a tag I made for a friend. This is my take on the February tag for the 12 Tags of 2013. I had made one, but was waiting to make this one when I got the stamp set he used for his. I just love this Queen of Hearts image.

I used Distress Stains for the background and Distress Markers for the watercoloring of the image. You will see I used Core-dinations card stock that I sanded after embossing. The ribbon was made with tissue tape. My friend was very happy to receive it (finally!).

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well! I am starting my Halloween cards now, and today I am sharing one I made for a friend to give his nephews. I wanted it to be cute, but still appeal to adults. I created this scene by using a fun piece of paper that featured a haunted house, and made Frankie go trick or treating! I was fortunate enough to win a bunch of cool glitter stickers from a fellow blogger from the UK, so I used the balloon to make it a kid-friendly card.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well. It is Wednesday, so I am sharing what is on my work desk with you. Thank you to Julia for all the desk-hopping fun! You will see that I was working on my October Tags for the Tim Holtz Tags of 2013. I made two of them, one for me and one for a friend.

Here are the finished tags!

Lots of Distress Paint and Distress Glitter happening on these tags! I really enjoyed painting the ribbon and stamping on it as well.

I look forward to visiting your desks today and seeing what you are working on! If you haven't taken part in WOYWW, I would highly recommend you join in. It is so much fun and a great crafting community.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well! Today I am sharing a Christmas card I made for a friend's son. I knew I used my nativity stamps the last few years on her cards, but I wanted my card to reflect the birth of Christ, so this is what I came up with.

I thought using the Star would be a perfect way to make this a Christmas scene. I really love when I can make scenes using stamps from different lines together. It really is a fun way to get more out of your stamps.

The use of the white and silver embossing really stands out nicely against the navy background.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well! Tonight I am going to share with you some more "homework" from the Tim Holtz Creative Chemistry 102 online class. It was a fun-filled week! Lots of great videos and techniques. I started out just doing tags as I normally do, but decided to add a couple of Christmas Cards and a pair of gift tags into the mix as well. I normally use my PDFs and directions to refer back to instead of the tags, so I figured this way I will have a jump on the holidays, too!

The first pair up are examples of embossing using Distress Glitter. Let me tell you, I have a ton of glitter in my collection, but nothing is as nice as this glitter! On this first card I used alcohol inks to color the gems on the snowflakes, as well as to add color onto the Kraft Glassine paper panel. The glitter I used for the snowflakes was Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter.

Another fun technique we learned was how to create an ombre look using Alcohol Inks. For this, I decided to make a Christmas card. The picture was taken at an angle to show the use of the tissue tape along the inside of the card as well. I colored the tiny attachers with alcohol inks as well as the film strip tape!

The next Christmas card is a fun example of using both colored Distress Glitter and Rock Candy Glitter with Distress Inks:

This tag was fun to make as it used Distress Embossing Powder and Distress Inks. I wish you could feel this tag as the gears feel very textured, like a light grain sandpaper. The background was stamped and embossed using the same powders so it is also textured.

This next tag was made using the chalkboard technique. It was fun and I plan to use this on a Christmas gift. I decided to use this fun old vintage-looking Santa from Stampers Anonymous along with the sentiment from the set.

The next few things are not paper crafted. I used the faux patina techniques that Tim shared on a couple of metal embellishments of his. They really look great, and I can't wait to incorporate them onto some of my holiday crafts this year.

We learned how to faux crackle glass items as well. For my bottle I crackled it and then added a mixture of oats and glitters to make "Magic Reindeer Food." I always bring some to my sister's house each year and we toss it on the lawn for Rudolph and company. I thought this was a fun way for me to present it. (Took a few shots as I wasn't sure which would show off the crackle better.)

Thank you to Tim Holtz for such a great class and all the hard work. I want to thank Mario Rossi for all the fun BTS and all his kindhearted Facebook fun. All those behind the scenes at Online Card Classes deserve a great big thank you as well. I sure hope there is a Creative Chemistry 103 class next year! If there is, I will be there!

A BIG thank you if you made it through this long post! Until next time, my friends!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Hi, guys! For today's card I made a religious themed Christmas card. I was asked to make a special card for a friend's husband with a religious theme. I started going through my stash, and decided it would be fun to incorporate a lot of images from different companies. I always love this self-imposed challenge!

I originally was just going to use the embossed nativity stamp, but remembered the beautiful angel stamp from Stampers Anonymous and thought it would represent the angel of the Lord looking down on baby Jesus. What you can't really see in the photo is the angel is done in Ranger Holographic Embossing powder, so when you see the angel in real life you see beautiful colors of pinks, purples and gold. Just lovely. Thanks to one of my favorite bloggers Anita for pointing me in the direction of that powder last year. Anita's art really rocks and is so amazing!

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well. Missed participating in WOYWW last week, but my husband and I were away celebrating our wedding anniversary at a local vineyard. It was amazing. Thanks to Julia for this desk hopping fun!

We are making technique tags as we go along. These tags each represent a technique we learned in class. I am sharing the three I completed last night. Each is using the Distress Paints (Marble, Distress Paint Crackle, Distress Paint Resist). I am a bit behind, but work and home have to come first.

If you want to learn some fun techniques, and the science behind these great Distress Products, I highly recommend this class to you. It is never too late to join in the fun as the class has lifelong access.

Have a great day! I look forward to visiting with you and seeing what you are up to!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Hi, guys! Today I am sharing a sympathy card I was asked to make. A coworker needed a card for her child's teacher who lost her husband suddenly. When I hear stories like that it makes my heart ache. I was told my coworker really didn't know the teacher well yet, so kept it simple and went with nature as I was not sure of their faith or beliefs. I did decide to make it more bright in color than I normally do, because I thought it may lift her spirits a bit (especially coming from a young student). I did the background with various shades of Distress Stains and black heat embossed the image and sentiment.

You will notice that I used my Lovely as a Tree Stampin' Up set for the main image. I find it is perfect for so many occasions. I used watercolor paper for the panel, as I love the way it works with Distress Stains and water, and there is a lot of color play and little warping.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well! My husband and I just returned from our vacation at a local vineyard where we honeymooned three years ago. It was a dream few days of peace, quiet and quality time together, not to mention yummy food and plenty of wine. I thought I would share some fun pictures from the trip. We stayed at a marvelous B & B run by the Sanninos who own and operate Bella Vita Vineyard. This was our 4th trip, and we just hate when the last day of our stay arrives and we have to leave. Sigh!

I must say, we were spoiled very much by Lisa Sannino's delicious breakfasts. Such tasty treats, with amazing views from our private balcony.

The view from the balcony:

Here I am among the vines and grapes!

Anthony Sannino gave us an amazing tasting of their fabulous wines. We have never had grape juice pressed directly into a glass before and it was amazing, then we got to taste the wines that grape juice will become. What I really enjoyed was learning about the process from vine to wine. It was really eye-opening.

I thought I would share the anniversary card I made for my husband and the one he made for me!
For my husband's card, I used a fun sheet of paper from my Simon Says Stamp kit. The sun was done with Distress Paint and a stamp by Claudine Hellmuth. The paper airplane stamp/die combo is by Lawn Fawn. The pair of clouds were made using Memory Box dies.

My husband made my card using our wedding invitation and since it was our THIRD anniversary I love how he marked it by using a heart on THIRD base on a baseball field. He noted that the 3rd anniversary is a leather anniversary, so he tied a leather strip into a bow.

I just love that he made me my own card. As a card maker, it isn't often that I have someone make me a card!

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well! Today I will be sharing a pair of Thanksgiving cards I made for two little children. I was asked to personalize them and since they are brother and sister I wanted to have them similar in feel. When going through my stash, I came upon a pair of felt Pilgrim Owl die cuts that I won last year in a giveaway by fellow WOYWWer Nikki from the UK. I thought they were adorable and perfect for two little kids to enjoy.

I added an embossed moon on the first one, bright yellow embossed the sentiment on the second one, and added their names to each as well. I used Gina K Designs card stocks on both as I just love the weight and the colors.

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it, and since my friend is going out on maternity leave, I had to have them done early (just in case!!).

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Hi, guys! Showers are always fun cards to make as they always are so full of excitement whether it be for a new bride, or even an expectant mother. Today I made a bridal shower card for a coworker to give to her daughter. I wanted it to have a modern look, and something different. I used this fun stamp by A Muse Artstamps as the focal image. It always cracks me up. I love that I can use it for any type of shower that I need a card for.

I came across a very small piece of patterned paper in my scraps folder that I thought would be perfect for this card, and looks great with the silver/white/black color scheme. I am not sure where it came from originally, though, because it was the last bit of it.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Hi, guys! Hope all is well! Today I am sharing a birthday card I made for my nephew Tom. I decided to use this fun stamp set from Cosmo Cricket because it had the marshmallow image on it. When Tom was very young, he came to my home and my late hubby taught him how to roast marshmallows for the first time. I can remember that day like it was yesterday, as he was so happy and excited. We were also lucky enough to take him and his family on their first family camping trip!

While making this card, I decided to add touches like the woodgrain embossing, and the tree paper for the hearts as Tom and his family are big campers and they make s'mores all the time.

It is truly a blessing to have a hobby where I can create a card for someone and make it so personal to them. What I love is that he was happy to receive it, and I was very happy to recall those special memories.